Get Instant Google/ Bing Search Results For Highlighted Text [Chrome]

The Search Google For option in the right-click context menu for selected text is useful but limited to only your default search engine. Should you ever want to search on Bing or Yahoo, you will have to first open it by manually entering the URL or by Googling it. Search Highlighter is a Chrome extension that unifies this search for Google and Bing. At any given time, you can select text and it will automatically be added to the search bar added by the extension. You can then choose whether to search it on Google or on Bing. Related search words are also shown on the search bar. You can change the location of the search box and place it either at the top or bottom of the page. Search Highlighter provides you with Google or Bing search results. You can access the previously used search keywords by clicking the arrow located at the end of the toolbar.

Once you’ve installed the extension, it adds a full length toolbar at the top of the page. Just highlight the words that you would like to search and hit enter to view the search results from specified search engine (Google or Bing) and the results will load in the same tab. The Settings allow you to change the toolbars position, number of suggested search terms displayed, and enable the Show Search in New Tab option. Once done, click Save. A cog wheel button on the toolbar lets you access the extension’s options.

The disadvantage, or rather the feature that could make this extension far more useful is if you could add a search engine of your choice like Yahoo or Wolfram Alpha. The interface is also somewhat questionable since it adds a full length bar. It might have been better to have something resembling the default Find bar since it would be smaller. A keyboard shortcut to toggle the appearance of this search is yet another feature that can add to its usability. The suggested search terms are a definite plus point since you don’t get them when selecting and searching text from the right-click context menu.

Search Highlighter makes it more convenient to use more than one search engine. Although users aren’t likely to want to switch between search engines, there may still be a need for a more thorough search and Search Highlighter is one way of doing it.

Topics

Authors

Daily articles in your inbox each day for free

About Addictivetips

AddictiveTips is a tech blog focused on helping users find simple solutions to their everyday problems. We review the best desktop, mobile and web apps and services out there, in addition to useful tips and guides for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and Windows Phone. Read more...